Cushioned egg box



Jan. 2, 1934. H. M. RUSSELL CUSHIONED EGG BOX Filed Nov. 6, 1931 .Z/77U677?IO7 Haw low 777. .Zfudse Z 6 11 v VHWW I Patented Jan. 2, 1934 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to paper boxes and has particular reference to boxes having internal partitions to provide cells for the accommodation of such fragile articles as eggs. Usually such boxes are of a knockdown type, and the partitioning consists of interengaged crossing strips of pasteboard such as illustrated and described in Letters Patent No. 1,785,416, dated December 16, 1930, which partitioning, after the fiat-folded box is opened and set up, is inserted in the box.

To produce the boxes at minimum cost, the material is fiat throughout, and the bottoms and lids of the boxes are flat and of single thickness and therefore provide slight protection against fracture of the shells of eggs placed in the cells of the partitioning.

The object of the present invention is to provide boxes of the type referred to, with means for cushioning the contents of the cells, especial- 1y to prevent the fracture of the shells of eggs in said cells.

With said object in view, the invention consists in the construction and combination of parts substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view, partly broken out, of a complete assemblage of the parts or members included in one embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 represents a section on line 22-of Figure 1.

Figure 3 represents a section on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figures 4 and 5 are perspective views of the two cushioning strips employed.

Figure 6 is a view similar to a portion of Figure 3, but illustrating a different kind of partitioning.

Figures 7 and Sare perspective views of the two cushioning strips which are preferably employed when the partitioning is of the type illustrated in Figure 6.

Similar reference characters indicate similar 5 parts or features in all of the views.

The box is of a well-known collapsible type which is usually furnished to users in flat-folded condition and by them opened or set up, and the partitioning inserted therein. Said box comprises a bottom 12 and four side walls, one of which has a continuation to provide a cover or lid 13, the latter having a tucking flap 14, (Fi 2).

The partitioning illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, comprises long strips 15 and interlocked transverse strips 16, the long strips 15 having spaced concave upper edges 17 (Fig. 3), and the transverse strips 16 having concave lower edges 18 (Fig. 2). As so far described, the structure is to be supposed to be the same as in the Patent No. 1,785,416 hereinbefore referred to.

Eggs contained in partitioned boxes of the kind described are protected against side fracture resulting from any sudden lateral movement of the boxes, because of those members of 66 the partitioning which are adjacent to but slightly spaced from the side walls of the box, as shown in the broken out portion of Figure 1, and my present invention is intended to provide economical means for affording equal protection 70 against fracture of the lower and upper ends of the eggs in the spaces or cells in the partitioning.

In carrying out my present invention, I supply with each flat-folded box and the partitioning therefor, a pair of strips such as illustrated by Figures 4 and 5. Said strips are economically made of cheap box board. One strip 19 is of alength to fit the box at the bottom thereof (Figs.

1, 2 and 3)' and is longitudinally corrugated to present curved ribs which register with the concavities 18 in the lower edges of the transverse partition strips 16. The other strip 20 is of the same length as the strip 19 (Figs. 4 and 5) but is transversely corrugated to present curved ribs which, when said strip 20 is placed on top of the partitioning and over articles occupying the cells, register with the concavities in the upper edges of the concavities 1'7 in the upper edges of the long strip 15 (Fig. 3).

By comparing Figures 2 and 3, it will be seen that the curved rib cushions of the two strips 19, 20, face in opposite directions, or toward each other, and therefore somewhat yieldingly resist the transmission of sudden pressure against the lower or upper ends of eg s in the cells. In practice, the strips 19, 20, are rather thin. In the accompanying drawing the apparent thickness is due to the requirements of clear illustration.

The drawing illustrates an elongated box designed to receive a dozen eggs. Of course if the box is of other shapes or dimensions, the cushioning strips are correspondingly altered as to dimensions.

When the partitioning is made of strips which have no concavities in their edges as indicated at 17, 18 in Figures 2 and 3, but have straight upper and lower edges as in Letters Patent No. 1,534,006, the use'of such cushioning strips as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 would necessitate making the boxes somewhat deeper, because the arched or curved rib portions would bear against such straight edges instead of being accommoded in concavities. Therefore Figures 6, 7 and 8 illustrate the cushioning strips 19, 20,'as having slots or apertures 21 across the arched or curved rib portions thereof in relative positions to permit straight edge portions of the strips 15, 16, to fit into said slots,

Having now described my invention, I claim:-

1. The combination with a box having partitions therein at an angle to each other, said partitions having their upper and lower edges formed to provide alternating convexities and concavities, of cushioning strips having arched 

